Jaime Hartman (00:00:07):
Welcome to the AIP Summit Podcast, your go-to resource for taking control of your autoimmune health, presented by AIP Certified Coaches. Hi, I'm Jaime Hartman.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:00:18):
And I'm Marie-Noelle Marquis. And we're here to equip you with the tools knowledge and support you need to effectively use the autoimmune protocol.
Jaime Hartman (00:00:25):
And today we are talking about holiday celebrations and AIP. Today's episode features the audio from a live webinar presented by AIP Certified Coaches in November, 2022 on the topic of getting ready for the holidays. We are bringing this to you now because we know you'll still find it informative and inspiring. Now of course, some things have changed in these last two years, including the modified AIP elimination option that you heard Mickey talking about in episode two and that we introduced in episode one. I have scheduled a special live webinar on getting ready for the holidays in 2024 on Wednesday, November 13th. If you are interested, you can find a link to register and to submit your questions in the show notes or you can go to our website, AIP summit.com. Now, if you're hearing this episode after November 13th, please know that we recorded it, we added it to our archives, which all members of the AIP Summit community have full access to.
(00:01:37):
So if you're already a member of the AIP Summit community, just go check that out. If you're not a member and are hearing this during the months of November or December, we invite you to join now and we want to give you a special holiday gift. We've set up a special offer that will give you your first two weeks for free. The link to that offer is found only in the show notes for this podcast episode. You can't find it anywhere else. Again, this special exclusive offer will give you two weeks of free access to the AIP Summit community, after which you'll be charged the low monthly membership fee for as long as you'd like to stick around. You can cancel any time. And again, this offer is available only until the end of December. Now, without any further ado, let's go ahead and listen to the recording from that webinar. You'll hear Mar Noel pop in a couple times to add her thoughts and then both of us will be back on the other side to wrap things up and to add some final words. Welcome everyone. This is our webinar for November and the topic is getting ready for the holidays. I would now like to have each of the panelists introduce themselves.
Shanna Nemrow (00:02:51):
Awesome. Hey everyone, my name is Shanna Nemrow. Excuse me. I am so happy and excited to be here with you tonight. How awesome is it that we can gather together, get ready for the holidays, plan our AIP holidays? I am a functional nutritional therapy practitioner. I am a certified master health coach. I am also an instructor at the Nutritional Therapy Association and a registered yoga teacher. So I love health and wellness. I'm so here for this. I'm also a fellow autoimmune warrior and the AIP is near and dear to my heart because it changed my life at my rock bottom after my Hashimoto's diagnosis. And so my mission is to really help raise awareness for finding joy while learning to live well with autoimmune, any kind of autoimmune condition or chronic illness. I'm a firm I believe wholeheartedly in Bioindividuality and I think it's such a beautiful thing to know that each of us are different and what works best for me may look a bit different than what works best for you or someone else.
(00:03:56):
And I think it's really fun to approach the AIP as an amazing template that we can customize and troubleshoot and adjust as we need to and as we progress in our journey. I'm super excited to be here with you tonight because I, during the holidays days, so my first holiday season AIPI was like, what do I even do back when I was on the elimination phase? And so it's hard and it can feel lonely. And so I love that we're coming to build together and raising awareness for getting ready for the holidays and how to find peace and joy this holiday season.
Jaime Hartman (00:04:32):
Thank you
Eva Ash (00:04:32):
Shanna. Eva, I'm Eva Ash and I'm a clinical psychologist in New York. Mostly I work with adults and couples on relationships, parenting work-life balance, stress management. And I also help people manage their moods using alternatives to medication when appropriate alternatives like meditation, nutrition, exercise, good sleep. And I came to the AIP world because of my own autoimmune like symptoms which were never actually diagnosed. And when the doctors couldn't figure it out, a rheumatologist suggested, well, we could try some drugs anyway. And I thought, that doesn't really make sense to me if you don't even know what I have, but you're willing to give me some drugs. And her second choice was I could try an anti-inflammatory diet, but she didn't tell me what an anti-inflammatory diet was. So I went off and researched that and found AIP, and now I no longer even see a rheumatologist because AIP help my joint pain and my gut issues so much. So I'm no longer seeking a diagnosis because I know that the proof is in the pudding. I know what I need to be doing to keep my joint pain and my gut issues under control. So I'm happy to be here tonight to talk about the holidays and talk about how AIP and stress management and the holidays all can interweave.
Jaime Hartman (00:06:18):
Thank you Eva and Sheryl...
Sheryl Cook (00:06:21):
I'll say good morning to those who are down under, have been morning here. Hi everyone. I'm in New Zealander. I currently live in Australia and when I diagnosed my Hashimoto's, I was living in Wales and that was over 10 years ago now, AIP was quite limited back then and so I found my way to it. And because I was subclinical at the time, medications weren't an option and living with the symptoms, I was not an option. I just amazed at how diet and lifestyle changes gave my life back. So I went and trained to become a functional nutrition and lifestyle practitioner because I highly believe that you can't rely on food alone. You do have to make positive lifestyle choices around symptom reduction and management as well. I'm also an integrative health coach and a certified AIP coach. And I'm so excited about this and it may not surprise you, but I've got the question coming up about traveling on planes having been on one or two in the past 10 years in an international and both domestic capacity. So I look forward to chatting to you all again soon.
Jaime Hartman (00:07:38):
Great, thank you. And thank you everyone for your great introductions. So we are going to jump right into our first question and it is going to be directed to Eva. And the question is, what should I be doing now to prioritize and take care of myself throughout the season?
Eva Ash (00:07:58):
Well, so it's no accident that we're doing this webinar a month before December to give you time to prepare. And there are so many holidays that come up this time of year whether you're going to be celebrating Christmas or Hanukkah or Santa Lucia Day or Las Posadas or any of the other, the Solstice, any of the other December holidays. It's crucial to ask yourself two questions now way before we actually get to the holiday season. And those two questions are, what is important to me this holiday season and why? And also, can I take extra good care of myself for the next six to eight weeks? So if we look at that first one, what's important to me and why some of those things might be food related and we can talk about that, but there are so many other things that stress out during the holidays, right?
(00:08:57):
So I think we have to ask ourselves, is it important to me to decorate the house? Is it important to me to send holiday cards? Is it important to me to attend certain gatherings? And if I've been invited to lots of different holiday gatherings between family and friends and work, can I choose between them? Is it important to go to all of them or can I choose the ones that are going to be most important to me? If we talk about food, are there particular foods associated with my holiday that I really want to eat? And if there are, then asking yourself, okay, can I modify the recipe so that I could still eat that food but it would be compliant with my diet? And if not, or if I don't want to do that, can I eat a small amount of that food and can I allow myself to have that food without guilt?
(00:10:04):
Can I make the choice maybe that what eggnog is really important to me and I'm going to have a small sip or some particular other food and I'm not going to modify it. I'm going to eat it at my mother or my mother-in-law's house and I'm not going to modify it and I'm not going to feel guilty about it. And I know that it's worthwhile to me to take the chance even though I know I may have to be dealing with some symptoms tomorrow or next week. And of course this a lot depends on your particular food restrictions, right? Someone with celiac is not going to take chances with gluten. For example. I'll give you a personal example of the sending cards issue. It was important to me to send holiday cards, but it was increasingly stressing me out. And so a couple of years ago, I came up with the idea to send New Year's cards instead of Christmas and Hanukkah cards, and it just gives me that extra 10 days because if you don't get your New Year's cards out until January 3rd or fourth, no one says, wow, those are really late if it's a New Year's card.
(00:11:16):
So it just gave me enough flexibility that I was able to still do the thing I wanted to do. It was important to me, but I didn't have to do it on that schedule where I felt like it had to be in people's mailboxes by December 24th. So ask yourself, what's important this holiday season and why is it important? And then that second question, can I take extra good care of myself for the next six to eight weeks? It's really important going into a stressful time, whether that's the holiday season or a job interview or anything we're dealing with in our life that's stressful, it's really important to take an extra look at our sleep. Are we getting enough sleep? Are we exercising? Are we using our best stress management techniques? I chose this particular Zoom background for myself tonight because one of my favorite stress management techniques is a visualization that I call brief trip to The Bahamas.
(00:12:20):
And so I just made that tropical background to remind me and to remind you that sometimes it's okay to take a couple of minutes and close your eyes and visualize yourself in a really beautiful, warm, peaceful place so that you can then cope with whatever the stressors are that are in front of you. And then I guess my only other thought on this topic would be there's just so much, so many demands it feels like that are on us at this time of year. And I just want you to remember that famous saying, no is a complete sentence, so empowering yourself to be able to say no to the things that you just can't do or don't want to do. No the end or no thank you if you want to be polite.
Jaime Hartman (00:13:17):
Thank you, Eva. That was a fantastic answer to get us started. The next question Shannon's going to take, and it was one that was submitted. This came from Ms. G, and she said, how do you handle people who think you're being excessive and try to press food on you that you do not want Shannon?
Shanna Nemrow (00:13:36):
Yeah, this is a hard one, right? I've experienced this in my own AIP journey firsthand, and I've unfortunately had clients experience this too, and it's not fun. I added some notes here, so if you want to take some notes or a screenshot, you're welcome to. But first I really find it important to take a step back, kind of zoom out if you will, and honor that food traditions are a part of many holiday celebrations. Some families, both my extended families included make the same holiday dishes year in and year out for years. My grandma makes these killer pies. My mom makes her Swiss corn bake. I make some jello salad, none of which is like AIP at all. But these holiday traditions really connect us and just thinking of those foods can really stir such fond memories. And I think that's a beautiful thing.
(00:14:29):
So just kind of honoring that is important in understanding why family or friends may be trying to push you to eat food because maybe they know how much you have always loved that dish that they make. Maybe you've eaten at every holiday season for 10 or 20 or 30 years and they think that they're encouraging you because they want you to be happy. Where it gets hard is when we realize that those foods, while we love them, they may not be supporting our health and they may in fact be hurting our health. And so the question becomes how do we honor ourselves? How do we support our health while also connecting with our loved ones and enjoying the holidays? And that's something that we each have to figure out. There's no one right answer, but hopefully tonight you'll feel comforted that you're not alone, that you hopefully feel supported with some ideas in moving forward this holiday season.
(00:15:24):
I think it's important to also remember that oftentimes rude or unsupportive comments or pressure from loved ones, it can really stem from the other person's insecurity, from their fears of judgment. They love you and they don't want you to judge them. So sometimes it can stem from their own issues. The whole saying, it's not you, it's me. No, it is really them most of the time. So I find it important to try to be sensitive in such circumstances and lovingly communicate your health situation and your dietary needs. I found it best to be as clear and concise and simple as possible and to practice ahead of time. So if we could go to the next slide, that'd be great, Jaime, thank you. And it may sound silly, but some simple phrases that you can be ready with to have on hand can really help you feel confident, empowered, supported, like, I've got this right.
(00:16:28):
And so here are just a few ideas or examples. You don't have to use any of these. You can use all of them. You can try one on for size and throw it out if you don't like it. Hopefully this kind of just gets those juices flowing. So one of them is I've recently discovered some food sensitivities, so I'll bring a traditional dish that I usually bring, but I also do need to bring my own food due to my food sensitivities period, the end. Another one is I've had some health struggles. I started a nutrition protocol to help relieve symptoms. I do need to follow it a hundred percent of time to get the best results. So I will be bringing my own food, but I am more than happy to bring a dish to share with everybody, and it doesn't have to be AIP dish.
(00:17:12):
It doesn't have to be. Another one is I started the autoimmune protocol, the AIP to help relieve my autoimmune symptoms. The awesome news is I'm feeling better when I eat this way, but for best results, I will be following this protocol. Even during the holidays too, I'm still me still so excited to come over, enjoy the holidays with everyone. So less is usually more. And I found it really important to wait for them to ask additional questions if they want more information. It can also be really helpful to consider asking specifically for their understanding and support in advance. Know that you don't need anyone's permission to support your health, but it can be helpful if you have a trusted family member or friend to really have that open, authentic conversation asking for their love and support. And then I find it helpful to share in a positive light when possible if they know that you're happy eating this way and that you're excited that you're feeling better and that nothing tastes as good as it feels to feel good underneath it all. Again, our loved ones want us to be happy and healthy.
(00:18:23):
So let's go in and go to, yep, perfect. Thanks, Jaime. So when asked, it's also helpful to, I found from from my own experience to start with or share what you do eat. So when I was on the elimination phase before I reintroduced foods, I also found it helpful to just, when somebody asked me about it, I would say, oh, I eat proteins like chicken and fish and beef and so on, and I eat a lot of vegetables and healthy fats and flavorful herbs and spices with a few unlike exclusions as like if they asked. And it's funny because when I led with that, I eat whole foods and unprocessed foods, I always got the same reaction and it was like a nodding yeah. And they would say something like, yeah, we should all be eating that way. And it's so funny because when I would lead with what I don't eat, which as you know, AIP is like, take a seat, I'll go over this. It was like deer in the headlights like you are crazy girl. So really starting with what we're including can really be helpful and assure family, friends that we're actually have not lost our minds.
(00:19:40):
I'm sure that your family and friends, that you love them, that you're still you, you're excited to spend the holidays with them, I think is really, really important as a recovering people pleaser to understand that not everyone is going to understand and that's okay. I had most of my extended family not understand. So some people may say unsupportive things. I find it helpful to keep in mind they do not live my life. They do not walk in my shoes. They do not have to live with the consequences of eating non-supportive foods. It's not my responsibility to make them understand or to please them. So keep in mind that you are trying to live your best life and you don't need permission to prioritize your health. And I found that what seems so strange and different at first, it will eventually become a new normal, my extended family. It's just how I am I. And so trust the process, trust the power of showing up for yourself even when it's not convenient.
Jaime Hartman (00:20:43):
Thank you. Shanna, on that note then, which she talked a couple times about bringing something, maybe something that is not AIP that you're not even going to partake in, but what would be AIP that we could bring? We thought it'd be cool to throw in a question that was asked. This came from, let's see, Linda, what is your favorite dish to bring to holiday gatherings? So Sheryl, I'm going to call on you first, your favorite dish to bring to holiday gatherings.
Sheryl Cook (00:21:10):
Oh, I had such a list. If it's something like summer barbecue, I really go with my lettuce and prawn salad and avocado salad, which is everyone just loves. And mango, if it's wintery, there's a lovely sweet potato casserole bake that I like to do. And then I actually have something for snacks, for dessert, for everything. So I have just my one go-to
Jaime Hartman (00:21:36):
Eva. Your favorite dish to bring to holiday gatherings?
Eva Ash (00:21:39):
Well, so my in-laws celebrate Hanukkah, so I like to bring gluten-free. It's a really easy recipe to adapt because you can just use rice flour or potato starch instead of matza meal as a binder. And I like to use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes so that I get the extra nutrition and beets actually make really good latkas beet shredding up raw beets. And I actually can eat eggs, so I'll use an egg when I'm making lats, but a gelatin egg will work as well. And there are lots of, if you just Google vegan egg substitutes, there's all sorts of other AIP compliant options if you don't want to use an egg in latkes. So I like to bring, everybody likes them and you really can't tell they're gluten-free the way I make them. But another thing I like to bring is balsamic strawberries for dessert because it's very elegant and seems like a pretty fancy dessert, but it has two ingredients, strawberries and balsamic vinegar.
(00:22:47):
And then I can have dessert because oftentimes at holiday gatherings, all the desserts have way too much sugar and way too much gluten for me. And sometimes depending on my audience, I'll also make that really great oyster sardine spread that the website Meatified has. I think it's called Smoky Seafood dip, and that's a good one because it's great main, I mean it looks like a dip. It is a dip, so it fits into the appetizers section, but that way I know I've gotten some really good protein in case I'm not going to really be able to eat the entrees depending on what they are and how they were prepared. So those are my top three.
Jaime Hartman (00:23:37):
All right, Shanna, your favorite dishes to bring to holiday gatherings?
Shanna Nemrow (00:23:41):
So as I mentioned on both of my sides of extended family, we have our traditional holiday foods, and so I'm known for making this sweet potato souffle dish that is so not AIP. It has boxes of brown sugar in it and so on, but it was also a dish that has special meaning to me because the recipe came from my grandma, my mom's mom who lived in North Carolina and she's no longer here. And so not only does my husband's side of the family also love it, even though I choose to not eat it anymore because it's not supportive to my health, I actually love cooking it and bringing it because of the connection I feel to my grandma, to my mom. My mom's cooked it for years and the way that everyone loves it. And so when I cook it, it just feels like the holidays. It's just one of those recipes, you're cooking it, you're just like, oh, now it's the holidays. So I don't actually eat it again, but cooking it and the smell and the enjoyment of the family, it hits the spot anyway, as far as myself, I usually just bring my own food for holidays if we're going to somebody else's and if we're at home, I already have food. So yeah, that's kind of a dish I love to bring even though it's not AIP.
Jaime Hartman (00:24:55):
Great. Yeah, and I have so many. I went last on purpose. This is the thing you get to do when you host because I wanted to see what other people had, but I would just say, so I don't think that we've heard a lot of anybody talking about main dishes probably because you wouldn't bring the main dish to a holiday gathering, but let's say you're hosting it and this is easier to do and you're going to make a turkey. I learned the very first year I was on AIP really wanted gravy with my turkey, and I was like, I don't know how to make gravy if I don't have a ru and I don't have butter and I don't have all that stuff that we obviously can't have. And so what I had improvised that first time, and it's so delicious, I make it this way every time now and everybody loves it, is that when I roast the turkey, I have in the bottom of the roasting pan a mixture of vegetables that you would normally maybe stuff inside the turkey like carrots, celery, onions, the turkey drippings drip down on that.
(00:25:51):
Everything gets really yummy and tasty. And then I just blend that up in my BlendTech like a high speed blender so it gets really thin sometimes. It depends. There's a lot of juice, sometimes there isn't a lot of juice. I have to add some broth. There's no recipe. This is just playing it by ear here and kind of figuring it out, tasting it. But you end up with this incredibly flavorful gravy that tastes like Turkey and all these caramelized vegetables better than any Turkey gravy that I've ever had before. And can you ever remember having? And we love it, so don't feel like you can't have gravy if you are on AIP and bonus. It's all vegetables, tons of things in the comments. I love it. Thank you guys. Please keep sharing those. The other thing I had thought of too was that I think ahead to the holiday, there was a big deal in my family when I was growing up in a football crazy town, which was Super Bowl Sunday. And so what do you bring for those kind of game day gatherings? Somebody I saw as the chat was going by mentioned Unbound Wellness. Michelle Hoover has a recipe for these chicken poppers that I have brought to Super Bowl parties and that people loved them Super Bowl parties or the New Year's Day Bowl game parties. They've been very popular for that. So anybody have anything they want to add before we move on to the next questioning? Other ideas that popped up while we were talking?
Eva Ash (00:27:22):
Just one of the things I was thinking about is how easy it is now to just Google for AIP recipes. And just a couple of years ago that was not true, but now anytime I want to cook something, I just cook. I just type in AIP chicken breasts or AIPI name one or two of the ingredients I have, and I always come up with five or six different blogs with recipes. And the worst thing that can happen is it's terrible and I'll never make it again. But what happens more frequently is I find something it's great and then I have to try to remember now which one of those recipes was it? But Google is just great now for AIP recipes,
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:28:10):
I love this webinar. These women have such great advice and to Eva's point, there are so many resources nowadays when we start digging and googling recipes, and I've said that before, but what I love about this and what is so inspiring to me is that those resources are really created by a community that is fed up with having limitations. So many resources that you find in the AIP world are really genuinely created by fellow autoimmune warriors that have gone through those struggles and want to help create a path for others that might be a little easier or better supported that their own journey was. So I love that. And speaking of resources, as some of you know, I'm the founder of an AIP focused company called Urban AIP, and Urban AIP offers meals and snacks that are 100% AIP core elimination, compliant, organic, and that honor the highest ingredient quality standard and offer toxin-free meal tray and packaging so that we keep your food and your body safe from harmful chemicals.
(00:29:13):
We are a women owned and operated small business, and we're all about bringing convenience back into your life to support you on your health journey. So this holiday season, we are launching our family size dishes and holiday meals, and I'm so excited about this. To echo the panelists, I think yes, there can definitely be nostalgia in the holidays when we are on a restorative diet. I mean holidays like we talked about are all about connection and so much of it is linked to food. So it becomes easy to quickly feel like an outsider at the holiday table when you're following an elimination diet or dealing with chronic illness symptoms. I have 1000% been there as well, and this is part of why I really wanted to offer family style shareable options with a Renee IP for the holidays. So if you're in a season, maybe in your life right now where cooking is not something that's realistic for you, whether it's based on the symptoms you're experiencing, your overall busyness and life, or that you just want to prioritize something else this season we are here.
(00:30:13):
Urban AIP is here to offer you a great alternative to cooking and something that you can share with your loved ones whether they follow the AIP diet or not because these dishes are just absolutely delicious. For our listeners, we also have a special discount on our holiday meals. So if you're listening to this podcast in the fall before November 14th of any year, you can use the code PODCASTHOLIDAYS at checkout altogether in one word for a special discount. Now to give you an idea of what we're offering, our holiday dinner are two main protein options, four different sides, dessert breakfast, and it's attended to feed four people. So basically four complete portion per item ordered. As I mentioned, all of our ingredients are always organic. Our animal protein is organic, pasture raised, grass fed and grass finished and never supplemented with corn or soy. All of our meals are made in small batches by our fantastic chef and nutritionist, Christina Evans. Everything is crafted with a lot of love by people who understand AIP know what it's like to be struggling with chronic illnesses and restorative diets and are so excited to bring you the support that you need. So if you're interested in ordering your holiday meal family style, check out urban aip.com and use the code podcast holidays for an extra discount at checkout. Jaime, back to you.
Jaime Hartman (00:31:41):
Our next question, Sheryl's going to take this one, tips and suggestions for food options if traveling by plane and preparing for the holiday the next day. This question came from Lori and it was very specific. She's actually traveling on Christmas Eve and then she's going to want to celebrate Christmas day when she arrives. But let's Sheryl take that away,
Sheryl Cook (00:32:04):
Just mindful of time. So I'll skip Eva. Covered really briefly in depth the whole preparation before you go and which is really important before we're flying or taking a trip, is to drop out inflammation bucket if you like and which is by a lot of the lifestyle stuff that Eva mentioned. But I also, even though I have been 10 years on this, often drop right back to as much AIP elimination foods as I can to drop my inflammation buckets, which is then again to increase my tolerance hopefully if I inadvertently or intentionally get into situations that are less than ideal for my health. And there's also foods that I know my body tolerates occasionally. These are what I call orange foods. So these are the foods for me that I can have occasionally or a small amount, and I know if I've got those buckets low, it's going to give me more lenient moving forward over that holiday period or that time traveling away. So getting on to plane flights, some things to be mindful of is looking at what time of day are you flying, so what meals do you actually need to have covered? Where are you traveling? Are there food restrictions going into a certain state or country that you're going into? And those are probably the big things. And then our third thing is what's happening on arrival. So I'll deal with the on plane stuff first.
(00:33:38):
There's a lot of restriction now around liquids, so whatever you're thinking of really has to be something in solid food format and depending on how long you're traveling for, you also have to be mindful of will that food stay safe for you during that timeframe? Okay, so those are your two big ones and a lot of international check-ins and stuff. Now, sometimes we're required to be there three hours before our plane even takes off, and I think I'm a big person who loves glass and being environmentally friendly, but when I fly, it's one time that I feel I let those rules go. So things like salads or solid foods like meatloaf packed full of veggies and I pack in plastic disposable containers, plastic cutlery, and I also pop it in a Ziploc bag, particularly if I'm doing something like a salad, which would be lettuce, cucumber, avocado, carrot, what have you, and a source of protein in there, sources of protein that work, that can work often.
(00:34:51):
If I'm day tripping, I'll use a canned fish, but you've got to be mindful that's in metal and if you're going through metal detectors, it's often not. Some countries are more sensitive about you having that sort of thing than others. So then go with something like have a roast meal earlier in the week. So then you've got roast meat and I tend to go with a red meat as I feel that lasts better than a chicken. That's just a bit more food safety. The other thing is put in an ice slicker pad, which eski, I know they're called so many different things around the world, but just a cheap one or even a Ziploc bag with frozen ice in it, which you dispose of before you get to any point that you've got to reveal liquids. You've got the packing at home, you've got the travel probably to the airport and you're probably going to line up and ticket and what have you.
(00:35:49):
So even having an ice pack for that period of time to look after your food can be really helpful. You're not going to be able to take liquids for you, but you can take a herbal teabag or whatever and you can ask for hot water when you get to the other side. So that sort of hopefully gets us through the airport food. Now, if you're a regular traveler, I actually recommend that you go around what food is available at that airport because depending on how many reintroductions and things you've made, you may find that you can do a customized juice at the juice bar. You might find there's actually salads that are salad bar that can meet your needs of basic AIP and reintroductions. You might find there's a cafe there that offers herbal teas. So if this is something that's going to be regular for you, check it out and know what's potentially available for you next time. Okay, fruit is another really good thing that you can take just and I go with hard fruits like apple is probably one of your best options. Piers can often squash bananas. I don't find it overly travel friendly. Grapes can be quite travel friendly as well.
(00:37:03):
Again, if you're traveling with fruit, please be mindful where you're traveling to keep all of your food together in a big Ziploc bag. In one part, if you've got a backpack, maybe keep it in the middle compartment so when you get to the end of that plane trip, you leave all of that food on the plane and be prepared to say goodbye to it. Okay? If there's any other questions on specifics on playing travel, pop them in the question. I'll get to it. I'd like to now talk about arriving. The thing that I have most in love with is online shopping. Okay? We've traveled internationally to Canada, whatever. We always get self contained, and I always online shop before I leave and I've just found out that we are heading to New Zealand tomorrow or Saturday rather when I'm in there, I'm actually going to be online shopping to when I get home.
(00:37:56):
So we actually have food when we get home that will be delivered to our door often. The first day can be your hardest. There are foods that you can pack into your suitcase. This is where you can probably put your canned fish or depending where you live, there's a lot more opportunity to pack shelf stable a piece snacks. Is it ideal? Does it make a complete meal? No. But does it keep you with what I would call foods that work for your body type? That's the most important thing. Okay? If you also know that you've a holiday coming up and you've done your 30 to 60 days elimination phase, do work on your reintroductions and you might find that something where you're going to like rice may make life so much easier for you might open up something like sushi. So test that at home before you go to widen your opportunities.
(00:38:58):
And if you are in that elimination phase, do remember it is only for a limited period of time and then we do start opening up that world, right? What else have we got there? Oh, arriving on the same day. Again, whether it's family, friends or something. See if you get an online shop delivered to that place. If you're going somewhere that doesn't have online delivery, but you've got family coming or friends coming from wider field, see if they've got room for you to do a delivery to their place, which they can also then bring with 'em.
(00:39:39):
Okay? Oh, protein balls are another really good thing that you can make and they are really travel friendly. You can have a sum in your carry on luggage and then have another lot which are actually in your luggage that goes through the main plane. And depending on where you are, if you've got AIP snacks to fill gaps. Oh, the other thing is too, if you know these plans to eat out while you're away, see if you can ring forward or make contact with those restaurants or cafes to see how you could be accommodated at all. I think we have to remember restaurants and cafes. They love people to be happy, they want them to have a good experience, and if you give them enough four times, they will make sure most of the time that you are going to be a delighted guest. What they can't cope with is that you turn up make all of these requests and they've got 30, 60, a hundred other people in a restaurant that they're trying to get meals to on the same day and that doesn't make life easy for them. I think that's most of my notes. I'm just trying to, if you've got any other questions, please ask in the chat and I'll flick you through some answers there.
Jaime Hartman (00:40:56):
Thank you, Sheryl. Very helpful. Alright, the next question came from Christine and she just simply wrote in that she is looking for ideas to replace traditions that no longer align with her needs. Shanna's going to help us with that one.
Shanna Nemrow (00:41:12):
Yeah, these are such great questions you guys. I love these. I love the awareness of how important traditions are and honoring that some of our traditions no longer align with our needs. Each of us are different, which is again, a beautiful thing. And I found in my experience and my own experience as well as in my clinical experience that many times we have answers to our own questions within ourselves. We just need to first be aware and then kind of get curious. We can journal. So I will share some ideas and I invite you guys to also share some of your favorite traditions, holiday traditions that you found that are supportive to your health in the chat too. Let's help, I think it was Jill out here, but first I just have some questions here that you can consider asking yourself, journaling about how can I replace traditions that no longer align with my needs?
(00:42:09):
What truly makes my heart happy? What is the true meaning of the holidays for me? Eva did such a beautiful job touching on that and what does enjoying the holidays really look like for me? Also, it's really important to keep AIP lifestyle in mind too, right? AIP is not just about food. I would argue that the lifestyle aspect is just as important as the nutrition aspect, if not more so particularly stress and sleep, right? Many of us autoimmune warriors know how quickly if our sleep gets off, if our stress levels get out of whack, how that can really trigger either flares some autoimmune symptoms to pop up. So as you make your holiday plans, build these new traditions, some questions you may want to consider are how can you support yourself through reducing and managing stress? What are some things that you need to be doing to reduce stress, to manage stress that you're currently not doing?
(00:43:07):
Think about what obstacles you might face and how can you work through those? How can you plan and prepare and set boundaries now? And what conversations do you need to have? Likewise, how can you support yourself through prioritizing sleep this holiday season? Thinking about both quantity and quality of sleep and what are those things in the daytime that you can do to support your sleep? Also, what are the things that, how do you want to schedule your tradition so that it's supporting your sleep? And just a little reminder here that I think we can all use from time to time is to focus on progress over perfection, just one step at a time. These are just ideas you don't have to take and run with all of them. You can just pick one or two and start there. All right, let's go ahead and move to slide two.
(00:43:57):
Thank you. Another thought is to consider holding a special family council or a friend meeting and ask them for their ideas so that they feel involved in these new traditions and that they can get excited about them too. I like to think about ways to slow down and to just push pause and to enjoy this time with my loved ones. The holiday season, there's so much hype and I found that the power of enjoyment is in kind of slowing down. Again, thinking about makes your heart happy, can be helpful to make a big list with your family, with your friends, you can kind of vote on it, narrow it down. Here are some of my family's ideas. Again, pop some of your ideas, your favorite holiday traditions in the chat that also support your health. So some outdoor ideas include a sleigh ride, a hike, looking at holiday lights, maybe a service project, helping out in the community, a bike ride skiing, going to a holiday tree, lighting or a show or musical.
(00:45:03):
And then a few indoor activities include reading holiday books or holiday puzzles. My personal favorite is snuggling up by the fire. I'm watching a holiday movie. And then this is something my family started doing a few years ago and I love it. We lay under the Christmas tree after we decorate it and we look up through the branches at the lights and we listen to our sing, our favorite, we usually don't sing. You do not want to hear me sing, but we listen to our favorite holiday songs and I don't go caroling, but I added that on there because yeah, again, you don't want to hear me sing. Alright, let's go to the third slide. Thank you. Alright, big reminder to practice extra self-care, grace and understanding. I find it really helpful and supportive to offer myself time and space to process, to unwind. This is hard, right?
(00:45:57):
You don't have to have it all figured out. This is new. It's not easy. It is okay to make a mess and it is okay to fall down. We all do, messes are okay and falling down is okay. Just don't stay in the mess. Just don't stay down. Choose to see those moments for what they really are and they really are opportunities to learn and to grow. So get curious and notice patterns and triggers, whether triggers are environmental, the time of day people, situations, and so on. So just becoming aware and then noticing those patterns and learning from experience. And you may find some tradition that you don't love my family and I just laugh when that happens. Like, yeah, we're not going to do that again, and that's okay too, but you may find some that are even better than you imagined.
Jaime Hartman (00:46:50):
That's great. I imagine that makes a good family story for decades to come where you're like, remember the year we tried to do fill in the blank and it was hilarious. You want the stories, they're even better. I think the stories about the traditions that don't stick might be even better than the traditions that do stick.
Shanna Nemrow (00:47:06):
I totally agree.
Jaime Hartman (00:47:07):
Thanks Shanna. Alright, this question's for Sheryl. It was from Wendy. And Wendy wants to know, how do you resist the feasting on non AIP foods that is going on all around you?
Sheryl Cook (00:47:22):
Yeah, that's a real toughie and I think it just do just everyday life sometimes when you see that happening. And I think it comes down to one of two things. I think it's wanting the best for ourselves and knowing that we are going to feel better by not having those foods. And sometimes I think as humans we tend to learn by trial and error. We step off the path, we do try something and then realize we get symptomatic from it and then we realize actually I am doing this AIP for a reason and it's because I don't want to feel like that. And I think you just, when that happens, and I did it through my process as well, and I actually, sugar and gluten were two that I was really sensitive to in the very early stages. And we were going to homeschooling afternoon teas, which happen once a month.
(00:48:22):
And I thought, I'm sure I can just have a bit of that and I would try it. And I was the worst mom for the next 24 hours and I hated myself for it. So for me, I tried, I stepped out of the line and I really did not like the person I was. For me, that was my motivator was what sort of person do I want to show up for myself and for my family? And I think that's what it is about yourself. Well, how do you want to show up? How do you want to feel? And yeah, I think the other thing is if you do try it or inadvertently I think with some people inadvertently try food and they get symptomatic. They want to blame somebody for having an AIP ingredient that they didn't know about. And I think with that space, I just want to say just watch your body, see what happens. You might find that food, even though you've had it didn't cause you any symptoms at all and the stress around thinking what's this food going to do to me will actually probably cause the symptom as much as what It's okay. So if you get yourself in that situation, just watch, just observe. You're going to learn one or two things that the wasn't a big deal or B, yes, that was a big deal and I am going to be actively avoiding that.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:49:49):
I love this section of the webinar so much because it's talking about honoring where you're at and remembering why you're on this journey. Like Sheryl mentioned. I also love the point Shanna brought up about traditions and honoring that certain traditions might just not serve us any longer. This makes me think of my own journey. I'm someone who really needs to prioritize sleep. My health will absolutely deteriorate if I do not honor that. So one tradition that was really struggling with is New Year's Eve. Now in my family, new Year's Eve is as celebrated as Christmas and it's truly a family gathering event, but obviously we end up staying up until four o'clock in the morning and I was finding myself starting the year feeling absolutely horrible. So at some point it hit me and I was like, well, why am I choosing to end the year with a recap party, but then start the new year basically sick?
(00:50:41):
So I decided that instead of staying up all night, I would honor my year recap at dinner, get some rest, and instead celebrate the first sunrise of the year. And initially it felt strange and telling people about it was like, no. But now it is absolutely my favorite because it feels like yes, I, it's all about honoring my health, but it's really about being also present in this new beginning and having a chance to create the year that I want and it makes me feel more empowered. I don't miss the original tradition one bit. So the point is you never know what you might come up with, what you might discover if you just are willing to brainstorm ideas and also what can be embraced by your loved ones as well as a new family tradition. So I really encourage our listeners to give that a shot.
(00:51:31):
Now, another food related need for convenience during the holidays when you're dealing with food intolerances is having convenient grab and go items on hand. Now you might be heading out on a day of ice skating or another fun outdoor activities, right? Overall during the holidays we're more likely to be out and about. And the challenge becomes how do you keep handy snacks with you? So one of the staples for me is something as simple as a cracker because I might be able to find a dip that is AIP compliant or close enough that it's safe for me to eat, but then I'm left eating it with a spoon because there's just simply no safe cracker alternative out there. And if you can't have gluten or grain and you can't have nuts or seeds, then you're sort of left with the spoon, right? So creating an AIP cracker was actually at the forefront of my priorities when I launched Urban AIP and a few weeks ago, we officially came out with our first savory cracker, which is rosemary garlic.
(00:52:30):
They are absolutely addictive and a hundred percent AIP compliant, and we offer them in the variety of sizes including that snack pack, grab and go for ultimate convenience. Also, for the holidays, we are launching a sweet version with cinnamon and coconut sugar that is to die for. So again, for our podcast listeners, if you'd like to try AIP crackers, we're offering a special buy one, get the second one half off deal on all of our cracker boxes. Each box contains, depending on the size of the bag, you select either three, four or up to nine bags per box, and you can also mix the flavors. So simply go to Urbanaip.com. You're going to want to click on snacks at the top of the menu, select the crackers you'd like, and at checkout, you want to enter PODCASTSNACKS all in one word to take advantage of this great offer. All right, thank you. I'm excited to share these holiday promotions with our listeners. And Jaime, let's get back to the webinar.
Jaime Hartman (00:53:29):
This is our last question and it's such an important one and Eva's going to wrap this up for us. And it came from Julie and Julie wrote in that she wanted to know how to handle lack of support or negativity from friends and family members, and also how to not feel deprived during the holidays while everyone else is eating everything and drinking while celebrating.
Eva Ash (00:53:51):
Yeah, I think the place to start with this is just to acknowledge your feelings, acknowledge how you are feeling. Not everyone is happy in December and it's okay to say, I'm feeling down or I'm not really looking forward to some of these get togethers. If you name the feeling and you acknowledge it, you can then move on to figuring out how to cope with it. But if you deny the feeling, you start telling yourself, well, I should be happy it's Christmas. It's much harder to cope because the feeling, the real feeling keeps making itself known. I sort of feel like the more we tamp down our authentic feelings, the louder they have to get until we hear them. And so sometimes it's important, and everyone tonight I think has echoed this issue of just slowing down a little bit and asking yourself what's important and how am I feeling lack of support.
(00:54:52):
That is a hard one. And if you already tried and you've already asked specifically from your loved ones, it would really help me out if you could do X or what I really need now is Y. If you've already been down that path and you've looked at your own communication and you know that you're using I statements and you're staying calm when you ask for it and it's still not working, then it's really time to find a supportive community outside of your family. And my favorite place for AIP communities is to go to the website autoimmune wellness.com, which has a listing of groups by geographic area. So you can find Facebook groups, meetup groups, all sorts of different support groups with other people who know the kind of support you need. We can't always get what we need from our family how to not feel deprived.
(00:56:02):
I think Sheryl sort of touched on this already, but again, acknowledge your feelings of being deprived, but then remember your wises. Why are you doing this? How do you feel when you do AIP? It's usually not black and white for everyone on every food, though there was a question put in the chat really early, and I think it was essentially addressed to me, how can you possibly eat a small piece of something that's not good for you? And this is going to really vary from person to person, right? That's one of the best things about the AIP diet is that it is very personalized and the whole point of the elimination phase in many ways is so that you can learn what works for you and what doesn't work for you. So you have to know where you can cheat and maybe even not call it cheating. That was my point earlier tonight, is say, you know what? I'm going to have that sip of eggnog because I know that a sip won't hurt me. But not everybody could make that same decision about eggnog. Some people, I think Sheryl had said she can't do eggs at all, so maybe you're definitely not going to do that.
(00:57:21):
I've just given an example from my own life. I was a real Margarita fan before AIP and I look small, but I could have three margaritas and it really did not affect me. And that is no longer true now. So now what I do when I really want a margarita is I mix a little bit of tequila, some freshly squeezed lime juice and some lime seltzer rather than using any of that margarita mix that's made with high fructose corn syrup. So I still get that sense, that taste of having a margarita, but I'm having a lot less alcohol and a lot less high fructose corn syrup and now I limit myself to one and no longer do three. But you have to understand what you can do that. I think the best way to feel deprived is to say, what is it that I really want? And can I have a little bit of that or can I make an alternative or can I say to myself, it's not deprived because I'm choosing not to eat this thing because I know I will not feel well tomorrow if I eat this or drink this.
Jaime Hartman (00:58:32):
Alright, we are way over time. Thank you so much everybody for joining us. Thank you for your patience and enjoy. Happy holidays everyone. Bye
Sheryl Cook (00:58:40):
Bye. Thank you. Have fun.
Jaime Hartman (00:58:50):
Welcome back to the present everyone. We hope you enjoyed that trip to the past and got some actionable tips or ideas that will make your holidays happy and healthy. One portion that we edited out for the podcast was a section on gifts to give or receive since that might be out of date two years later. So I thought we could wrap things up here with a quick conversation about gift ideas that we have for 2024 Marie-Noelle. What are some things that you would put on your holiday wishlist for this year?
Marie-Noelle Marquis (00:59:19):
Great question. Well, since I feel like time is always running short on my end, I love to equip myself with convenience, quality, and convenience is always is two things I often focus on. So how can I achieve, bring to myself quality and save time? So instant pot is something I love. I actually need a bigger one. So that would be something I love to be able to just throw in healthy proteins, veggies, and just I'm out for the day and when I come home like, oh yeah, my past self, thank you for making me a meal. So I love that there's an air fryer. I started looking into that and there's a company called Our Place I've heard really good things about, and they're very cute. They look like old vintage little ovens that would be on my list. I love subscriptions because I feel like it's the holidays that keep showing up on my door every month or so, depending how often I subscribe.
(01:00:36):
So I would think gifting someone a subscription is a fantastic gift. It's like a little reminder of like, Hey, here's my gift for you. Again, I've gotten really into those adaptogenic drinks to help support balancing the no time, making sure I got good adrenal support. So brands like there's the sua, there's actually a whole variety of apothecary. They make really herbal mix, like tea mix, also sip, herbals I love. So those types of subscriptions, I think those are great gifts and books. I'm a geek if I have any time. I read all about nutrition, health, functional medicine. So I think those are always great books. And then warmth last, I have a whole long list of gifts, but warmth, because I run cold, have Hashimoto's. I tend to. So any cozy, comfy, thick blanket and sweaters always on my list.
Jaime Hartman (01:01:44):
What about you? That's a great list. Yeah, that's a great list. So on my list, let me see. I am with you on the warmth thing, especially when the depths of winter, I live in Northern Virginia where we go hot and cold. Sometimes it's really cold and it would be nice to have some fuzzy slippers that I could put on in the morning. So I think I would ask for that if somebody wanted to get me something to keep my feet warm. One thing I have that I would suggest for other people to ask for if you're just starting AIP would be a Hot Logic Mini Oven. I'm going to actually put a link in the show notes to that because in case anybody doesn't know what I'm talking about, so you don't even have to go Googling it, but it's a little, it looks like a lunchbox, but there's a heating coil in it and it allows you to heat up your meals. And if you were going to get, say, urban AIP frozen meals, they go right in there. It's awesome. It'd be a great thing to
Marie-Noelle Marquis (01:02:34):
Have. Jaime, you turned me onto that. Yeah, I listened to you. I was listening to one of the AIP summit webinar about traveling and you mentioned the hot logic and I was like, what a portable oven. And right away I went and got one. And they have some on sales too if you don't care about the color. And I got mine right away. And it is absolutely life-changing, also being able to bring you meals. And then I was leaving on a trip and I was like, in an airplane, I can plug that in and I have my, I mean, it's freeing. It's a gift of freedom. Great suggestion.
Jaime Hartman (01:03:14):
And then you mentioned when we were chatting about, before we started recording, I said, well, I think I need a new food processor. And then you said, or a knife sharpening service. And I was like, yes, that's what I need. A knife sharpening service. Of course I do. I do cook a lot. We were chatting before we started recording about how much we each cook at home. Well, because got, she's cooking in her business all the time. She's not necessarily cooking at home, but I do cook at home and I definitely don't take great care of my utensils. So a knife sharpening service would be fantastic. I think that'd be a great gift for anybody trying to think of something for a foodie in their life. It cooks at home. And then I would also ask for a new foam roller just to self body care.
(01:03:53):
The one I have has been used till it's been love to death. It's not really round anymore. And so I really need a new one. And then like Marie-Noelle, I like books, you could always get me books and I'd be happy. And I particularly enjoy cookbooks these days. I like looking at them as much as anything. So even if you got me a totally impractical cookbook, I'd be really happy because I like looking at them. But for people who are maybe just starting out AIP, there's some great AIP cookbooks that you could get that would inspire somebody to do a little bit of dabbling at home to compliment their endeavors. So now that's my gift list.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (01:04:33):
Yeah, I love that. That's a great gift list.
Jaime Hartman (01:04:36):
All right. Thank you everybody for joining us today. We'll be back with another episode in two weeks. So make sure you subscribe to this podcast if you haven't already to stay informed.
Marie-Noelle Marquis (01:04:44):
We look forward to helping you use the power of the Autoimmune Protocol to elevate your wellness journey to new heights.
Jaime Hartman (01:04:56):
The AIP Summit Podcast is a Gutsy By Nature production. Content presented is for informational purposes only, and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
